This one is quite harmless. Not as much uncomfortable, as overloaded. And just soooooo terribly frumpy. It made 20 year olds look like pious grandmas with gut complaints. This  was a middle-class fashion – decent, prim and proper – with as much sensuality as there is caffeine in a baby cappuchino. Sure, it was opulent! Those “leg of mutton” sleeves for one. So overblown that they sometimes needed a falsework (is that the word?), a mini crinoline-like cage of their own. Or this sickening overload of lace! Just screaming right in your face: I CAN AFFORD ALL THIS SHIT! KILOMETERS OF IT! AND I WILL PUT IT ALL ON NO MATTER HOW RIDDICULOUS IT LOOKS! This is no longer an ornament – there is just too much of it – it is a status statement, a vulgar display of (financial) power. Remember, this is the Biedermeier era. A time of good middle class values and a tacky middle class taste. Maybe I would not get scoliosis or breathing difficulties in this dress but I would sure die of boredom in it.